Vietnamese lender Eximbank CEO re-appointed

Ho Chi Minh City-based Eximbank, with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as major shareholder, has re-appointed Tran Tan Loc its CEO for another three years.

Loc was first selected for the position last September after the private bank had experienced two-year absence of CEO.

Earlier, he had been deputy CEO and acting CEO at the lender.

Since Loc took over the reins last September, Eximbank has gradually stabilized its operations. The lender reported after-tax profits of VND1,519 billion ($65 million) in the first six months of this year, 2.4 times year-on-year.

This was the first time since 2013 that Eximbank, one of the first joint stock commercial banks in the country, had generated H1 profits of trillions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 trillion = $42.5 million).

For 2022, Eximbank set its pre-tax profit target of VND2.5 trillion, up 107.5% over 2021.

In late 2007, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. invested $225 million in Eximbank to become its largest shareholder with a 15% stake. The Japanese lender said this March that its 14-year alliance with Eximbank had ended, citing "material changes in the business environment."

However, the Japanese institution has not yet withdrawn its capital and remains a major shareholder, Eximbank chairwoman Luong Thi Cam Tu told her bank's annual general meeting in late May.